Meditation: August 31

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (10) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power”. Colossians 2:9-10

Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher who announced the death of God placed his emphasis on the strength of the human personality. “Relinquishing the belief in God opens the way for human creative abilities to fully develop.” “The Christian, he wrote, “would no longer stand in the way, so human beings might stop turning their eyes towards a supernatural realm and begin to acknowledge the value of this world.” His idea was that “will power is the essence of reality”.

Today, the death of the God which is expressed through a shift in values is proclaimed even while using religious language.  Asserting oneself and accentuating the positive while eliminating the negative supposedly have freed individuals from the bondage of their past. There is a super-human being on the scene that can control the activities of their god and create their own destinies. “If it is to be, it is up to me” has become the motto for daily living. God is about developing the human personality in ways far beyond the wildest dreams of Nietzsche. He thought it was possible to find one’s life while Jesus is about one losing his life that he might find it in Him. The aggression of egotistical behavior contributes to the destruction of the human race rather than the development of society. People are too busy trying to get for themselves what they want rather than having a true concern for God’s agenda and glorifying Him by giving Him what He requires. Listen more carefully to the message of this age or this world system, even in religious circles and you will hear this opposing gospel message seeping into the very center of what is being proclaimed. Only God can complete man and we are complete only in Him. He reigns over the things contributing to the conditions of man’s fragmentation. No one can rescue himself. All are in need of help. All are in need of God who is yet alive and well!

August 2016 Article: “The Shaking of Kingdoms”

Heb 12:27-29 The phrase, “one last shaking,” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered. (28) Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. (29) He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!” (The Message Paraphrase)

God’s established authority, having been compromised, gives rise to resulting calamities that expresses violence within the heart of the rebellious. Sin is rebellion and is practiced by those who contradict God’s Word and is offended by His standard of absolute righteousness. Since it is impossible to measure up to His standard independent of surrendering to His Son, Jesus Christ, the futile search for alternatives merely lead to further frustration of the heart. The essentials stand clear and uncluttered regardless of contrary opinions among those who consider themselves too intelligent to trust the simplicity of God’s Word. Jesus spoke of the ignorance among His own people when He said, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:42b) The practice of sin blinds one from understanding or even having an interest in what works and produces a permanent resolve to the issues of our day. Therefore, more laws must be passed and further modified, increased military strength to regulate the inevitable, and a dependency upon the decisions of ungodly leaders leading to increased fears and ultimately hopelessness and despair. When His authority is violated, security and the people are threatened.

The closer we come to the return of Christ, the more the light of His glory exposes the intent of the hearts of mankind. The increase of warring factions is not coincidental. Injustice becomes the measure among those lacking an absolute standard. Unfortunately, most are not able to draw the line that connects decisions made on a personal and collective basis and the consequences that follow. God merely withdraws a small measure of His grace that allows people to have it their own way. Only God knows the end from the beginning. All of us have the right to choose what we will to do with our own bodies, what we wish to say, and where we wish to go, but we do not have the right to determine the consequences of our decisions. The prophetic Word is a warning to all; yet it is still be ignored today as it has throughout history!

There will come a time when there will be one last shaking. A shaking of our economy, a shaking of our educational, and economic systems, a shaking of our political system, a shaking among religious institutions; everything will be shaken. The shaking will take place as a means of exposing the futility of everything established where the Lord has been expelled. God is actively cleaning house! First, there must be the uprooting of the residue of rebellion that stands as a monument of man’s strength when he stands alone. Babel was incomplete and its structure was not secure—it represented confusion. However, God is erecting a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!  It is time for each one of us to examine ourselves and ask the question, “What are you building? Whose side are you really on?”  He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and the time is soon coming where are will eventually realize that the only thing that matters and will have a lasting effect are those things initiated and sustained by Him.

Meditation: July 18

“You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” Job 42:3

We all have spoken before we had given thought to what we should say.  Those words were merely from the top of heads and not words from the depth of our hearts. These words we live to regret if we ever develop a humble and a tender heart. It is the wisdom of God that tames our words enabling us to speak wisdom. When we have taken the time to seek the Lord in prayer and meditate over who He is and what He has done, we are more careful to think before we speak. Many a people have been misled by counsel that generated from the resources of the hearts of unregenerate men. They have listened to the counsel of the ungodly, even among the religious, and have followed the course that leads to destruction of the character and souls. God’s counsel is shrouded by the careless opinions and faulty interpretations of men. The Word of Truth is very precious. When we realize its true value we will seek it with greater diligence and treasure it above the value of silver and gold.

Meditation: June 28

“The ordinary and disreputable people who heard John, by being baptized by him into the kingdom, are the clearest evidence.” Luke 7:29 (MSG)

When ordinary and common people are awakened to the message, the clearest evidence is presented. It is not the theologians or religious experts who will readily embrace the truth. They have to work their way through too many intellectual arguments before their hearts are finally penetrated. Not that we should close our minds and blindly feel our way into faith. But there is a place deep within the soul that can identify with the Truth and serve as the cause for rejoicing. The void is filled there. What has been missing is finally placed in the deep hole that nothing else was able to fill. Ordinary people are more aware of their need than those who are self-confident, pious, and proud. They need everything while the proud need nothing. They seek out a better and more fulfilling life while most aristocrats only need an addendum to what they have already received. There will be a major movement among the ordinary people and those who were hopeless. They will see the Light sought after but never realized. Their response will be genuine because they have nowhere else to turn. Yes, Christ is for losers. Unless we lose our lives, we will never find eternal life. Otherwise we will be embracing a false security plunging rather than rising thinking we have arrived.

Meditation: June 15

“It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:5

The course that many have chosen is one of sensationalism and entertainment. Their religious experience is none other than a palatable and rhythmic sound to lull their consciences to sleep while their hearts are further hardened against the truth. The rebuke of the wise is a wake up call to attention among the masses which are in a drunken stupor intoxicated by worldly passions. It is the awakening to God’s Truth convicting the soul in order for the Holy Spirit to turn them from darkness to light. It is the truest expression of God’s love dispelling ignorance to God’s ways thus leading towards an expected end. It is the rebuke, not merely the words of affirmation and consolation that redirects the course of the wayward traveler. We must know where we may have strayed if we are ever to return to the perfect path. Many would merely listen to the song, the lullaby of fools. When the music comes to an end, would our eyes be fixed on the prize of the high calling of God? Truth is often painful to begin with, but it eventually becomes the salve to heal the wound that it causes.

Meditation: May 9

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” Matt 11:19

Sinners flocked around Jesus and loved to be his companions, while the religions found Him to be repulsive and were made to feel uncomfortable. Prostitutes and publicans followed Him around without feeling intimidated, but sought Him out knowing that they would not be condemned. Even though He did not give license to sin, but rather came that all of the works of the devil would be destroyed by Him. He would judge the judges of men who would place heavy burdens upon their shoulders. But He would come into the Temple and turn over the tables of the money changers. His life was paradoxical to most because it appeared as if He would tolerate the very thing in others the very thing that by His nature He despised. Sinners, Publicans, and the poor gladly received the Gospel because they knew that their lives did not measure up to His standard. Therefore, they received Him gladly as one who would be thought of as rejecting Him, while those who are religious often saw themselves as superior to His standard and in violation to it. Jesus loves sinners and saints are to love what He loves. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Meditation: April 2

 “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. (13) And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.'” Matthew 21:12-17

When Jesus arrived at the seat of both religious and political power, He confronted religious authorities as being “a den of thieves.” When Jerusalem was robbed of an environment conducive for spiritual renewal, their leaders were indicted by Jesus as thieves. Religious leaders were using their followers as merchandise to be traded for profit, and their souls were both hungry and lost. An atmosphere of greed reproduces after its own kind. It spreads like a contagious disease thus hindering those who would otherwise listen.  They would rather gravitate in the direction of their instructions. Jesus did not approach the civic leaders first. He confronted religious leaders for their perverse ways. The house erected with the intent of worship must first become a house of prayer. If the priorities are misaligned, the activities will be dishonorable. The confrontation followed the coronation among those who recognized Him as King. The Lord is determined to have what He desires. His communion with the Father was the source of His strength as the Son of Man. The Church will be as strong as she is consistent in prayer from which all other activities must find their origin.

Meditation: March 22

“Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” James 1:18

It was not as the result of skills or ingenuity that we were presented on the scene possessing the qualities the world is in desperate need. In due time, God presents to the world His solution to its greatest challenges through a people who have been qualified to speak life into the culture of death. Yet none can take the credit for what is spoken or demonstrated. It is His awesome power on public display. Within His own time, He raises up a people who are qualified to speak the truth in love. When the righteous are raised in power, all things are in the process of being restored. Only the truth spoken in love is a basis for God’s order to replace the confusing philosophies of religious gurus who twist the truth to their own whims. All of creation awaits the manifestation of those who would be willing to stand for the truth at all cost. Then there will be the dawning of a new day of liberty from the bondage of corruption.

Meditation: January 15

“And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” Hebrews 6:15

The rush towards the promise, without patience to endure the interval trials, is giving expression to doubt and unbelief. Those careless movements are usually met with disappointments with self as well as with God. Misunderstandings arise concerning God’s character of love and concern when one caves in while engaged in the battle. This happens when Christ is not being seen and known throughout all of the circumstances of life. Faith requires one to believe in God and what He has promised even before the evidence is present. His desire is to reveal Himself through His Word that is able to withstand every crisis met along the way. His Word is truth and can outlive the lies of Satan. The bump in the road was not a roadblock but a stepping –stone leading towards the life that lies ahead. There are times when there is nothing left but His promises and pressures. The pressures may try to shroud the promise but the promises are true regardless of the amount of pressure. Perhaps this could be the path of authentic faith being developed within one’s life. Many need to be weaned from the ineffective pop religious messages that create a state of euphoria, directing their confidence towards themselves, rather than towards knowing God. It is not what we escape always, but what we go through that marks the measure of true faith. The promise is on the other side of the challenge. He teaches us to endure whatever may come our way. When we are yet standing firm after the battle is over, we stand in victory before Almighty God.

Meditation: November 17

Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” John 12:21

The religious activity today has been directed towards many causes. They tell us to be more relevant so that the Church may establish her position in society. Many leaders have risen to the occasion with the valor and courage to fight for what they believe, while others have affirmed the humanity and self-existence of mankind having rights and privileges given to them by God to enjoy life, or rather exploit this planet and its inhabitants for the sake of personal pleasure and gain. We have the selfless heroes of our day and the selfish demagogues who seek both fame and fortune merely for themselves. Yet in their pursuits for what they want to achieve remain vain and left without any eternal merit because Jesus would not have His place of prominence established among them. In the midst of the hurrying crowd looking for a reason to embrace that will give life meaning, we wish to see Jesus. He alone is able to provide what we really need. He postures us to ask the right questions so that in our seeking answers we may discover what really matters. Preachers, preach Jesus! There are too many options before us to choose when we are in preparation to address the crowd who has come to hear us. As we die to ourselves, He will take His rightful place among us and do what He alone is able to do.